When I arrived in LA I assumed I'd be able to put on
the Americanaccent. It proved difficult so I had six months working with a dialect coach and it's become a habit.Martin Henderson (The Ring / Pride and Predjudice)

Dialect coaching was provided for Jason Clarke while filming

``Brotherhood," the Showtime series. Clarke says, after a
while, speaking like a Rhode Islander makes you feel like a Rhode Islander. ``It really helped inform the character," he says.

Joanna Weiss, Boston Globe website 6/2/2006

I
have always been enamoured of dialect,

as an actress
and as a coach.

I find Jason Clarke’s
quote is especially appropriate, using dialect does inform you about your character, about their culture and how they relate
to the world.

I’ve been coaching dialect
for as long as I’ve been coaching voice, since 1991. My focus in dialect coaching is to lead actors to understand:

1)Dialect is part of character.

2)Dialect must be in your body, in your muscle memory,

like the notes of
a song.

3)Dialect must be learned early in rehearsal process.

4)Dialect brings with it cultural norms and rules to learn.

5)Dialect is not difficult. Some are better at it than
others, yes. But with practice and rehearsal, your dialect can become stage worthy.

I coach regularly for GlendaleCommunity College. Productions include Romeo Juliet, Anything Goes, Waiting
for Lefty, The Sweet Potato Queens, In the Company of Men, and numerous dialects for the Speech Team individual events competitors.

In private monologue and audition
coaching I have coached, Standard British, Boston, Southern (Georgia,
Texas, Tennessee, New Orleans),
Midwestern, New York and a bunch of others, how’s
a gal supposed to remember all she’s coached for goodness sake.